Tuesday, March 29, 2016

This is the fourth in a series of seven suggestions for working on yourself in order to more fully appreciate and get the best out of yourself and other people. Links to the three previous posts are below.

There's working on your business exercises too that correlate with those for working on yourself. All are in the one place in the handbook you can download here.

Your life only has one purpose. Your only quest is to live it.

We are all unique. Not a single duplicate in the 100 billion lives that have walked planet earth. When we bring our best, free of BS, we are all remarkable.Your birth was remarkable. Being born at all is even more remarkable than our birth. For most men only one or two of the 500 billion sperm cells produced in a lifetime reach the female egg, one of less than 500 that each woman produces in her life.

The fact that any of us is alive at all says to me that every life has a profound purpose.

Robert Louis Stevenson put it this way:

To be who we are, and to become all that we are capable of becoming, is the only purpose in life.

Your greatest gift to the world and to yourself is to fulfill this purpose, and then help others to do the same.

One action you can take right now to live on purpose

Take a sheet of paper and without stopping to judge what you write down, make a list under the following statement:

Who I wish I was that I’m not yet

Then choose the one that most appeals to you right now than you can shift from what is to what can be in the next 30 days.

Monday, March 14, 2016

This is the second in a series of seven posts about working on yourself in order to more fully appreciate and get the best out of yourself and other people. You can read the first post here.

When suffering from a life-threatening illness 37 years ago my doctor advised me to have ‘an attitude of gratitude.’

Every day since, at least 3 times a day, I stand in front of a mirror and say out loud "I have an attitude of gratitude."

My stance helped me to not die from my illness. Every day since it has helped me, even in my darkness moments, deep disappointments, and digression from my path, to live a life that matters to me and the people I encounter.

The day I received my doctors advice and began to apply it was a defining moment in my life.

I use my ‘attitude of gratitude’ ritual too as a restart button whenever situations threaten my core appreciation of myself.

Restarting helps me to bring to the forefront of my mind an unchanging principle I’ve learned the hard way - when we’re grateful for what we’ve got, we can have more of what we want.

Over the long haul too I’ve been fascinated and enriched by another way this principle plays out - the more grateful I am for what is, means what can be becomes crystal clear, and therefore the pathway to achieving it also reveals itself.

One action you can take right now to adopt an ‘attitude of gratitude’ in your own best way

Start each day, before you turn your computer on, or do anything else, making a list of what you’re grateful for right now. Start with yourself personally, other people, and then things in general.

Take the intentions, feelings, and thoughts that arise into every action and transaction.

Make this ritual part of your everyday life. And if you need any simple, practical help with this, do give me a shout.

In appreciation.
Ian Berry

PS At this link you find the videos and first and second working on your business exercises that I recommend you undertake in conjunction with the working on yourself suggestions. Just watch the short videos and download the handbook at the link.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

The Appreciative Leader Pilot Programs - sustaining shared-view in the seven areas of significance where the most successful leaders stand out.

I'm looking for 14 maverick thinkers (7 per group) to join me online for 1 hour per week (30 minutes together as a master-mind group, and 30 minutes 1:1 with me) for 7 weeks. 1:1's will be scheduled at mutually convenient times.

Group 1 commences 8.30 a.m. Australian Eastern Time on Tuesday the 22nd of March 2016 and Group 2 at 8.30 p.m. that day.

This is a pilot to help me to fine tune a standalone online version of my current flagship in person and online work.

For you it will mean better business results at less personal cost and a minimum 10 times return on the small investment of $700AUD.

This upgrade to my work is a labour of love. Should you have more than 7 people in your business or team,and the call to being an Appreciative Leader resonates (you want to fully appreciate and get the best out of yourself and other people every day), you'll love this too!

The future of business is providing experiences and meaning - says Futurist and Nowist Gerd LeonhardThis pilot program will provide both experiences and meaning for you, and help you to accelerate doing the same in your business.

I'm taking expressions of interest up until midnight today (Tuesday March 8th Australian Eastern Time). Gain more insights into this program by checking out the current program here.To express your interest please email ian@ianberry.biz with your telephone number and I'll be in touch.

Monday, March 7, 2016

Showing appreciation is simple to do. And it’s so powerful it’s actually the cornerstone of my life and work. However, just because it’s simple, it isn’t always easy to do it in practice. Here’s a quick way to help make it work.

My friend Nigel Risner provides us with a big clue when he says IF YOU'RE IN THE ROOM, BE IN THE ROOM.

Yet situations can throw us off course from this wonderful advice and take us away from our internal core appreciation of ourselves which enables us to be in the room in the first place.

Below is part of a conversation I had recently with a client who had temporarily lost her bearings regarding her core appreciation of herself, after a heated discussion with her boss.

I asked her “Outside of the workplace where do you feel most appreciated?”
Straight away she replied “My eldest son is brilliant at showing appreciation to me, and often it’s just little things that surprise and delight me.”

“What little things could you do to surprise and delight your boss? I asked.

What followed was a candid and convivial conversation that revealed my client had rarely, if ever, shown appreciation to her boss. I explained to my client that often we don’t receive what we most need ourselves unless we’re giving it to others without attachment to getting back. I also said “It’s OK to ask for help!”

In most workplaces there’s a lack of appreciation going on despite a known fact best described by the eminent psychologist William James who said:

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.

One action you can take right now that enacts this deepest principle

Reflect on the people closest to you at home, at work, and the other places you go.

Write down these people’s names and one way you could show genuine appreciation to them in the next fortnight without any cost except that of your time and energy.

Go show appreciation without attachment to getting back.

Make this ritual part of your everyday life. And if you need any simple, practical help with this, do give me a shout.

In appreciation.
Ian Berry

PS The above is the first in a seven part series of suggestions in my Monday Morning Momentum offerings for both working on yourself (as above) and working on your business. You'll find the video and the working on your business suggestion here.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

You might have also heard that it's becoming increasingly difficult to win the social media battle unless you have deep pockets. In fact, a client recently asked me something along those lines:

"Social media has become an incredibly overcrowded space in the last 12 months because many businesses in our industry have heeded the advice and jumped on board. There are so many competitors now on social media both growing organically and through paid advertising. Many of these companies have a lot more to invest financially and can afford to pay an agency to manage their social media for them. Smaller companies, like ours, who do not have this capacity are now watered down and social media may well become one of those tools only applicable to deliver results for the larger companies."

This is a common concern, but in fact that doesn't have to be the case. Social media allows you to level the playing field, and compete against larger companies - but only if you do it right.

Here is the world's simplest social media strategy.

Broadly, you can do three things:

I'll explain ...

Comment: Start by participating, contributing only with Likes, Favorites, and comments.

Curate: Set aside an hour or two each week to selectively share other people's material with your network.

Create: Set aside blocks of time to create your own high-quality material and share it on social media.

By doing these three things over and over again, you'll gradually build your online network, and be seen as a credible source within your community.

Start now!

Make no mistake - getting successful on social media does take time. But it's not beyond the reach of small organisations. And just because you don't have millions of dollars to throw at it doesn't mean you can't succeed. In fact, you can often do much better because you're not relying on one-off "campaigns". Instead, you're steadily building an ongoing relationship - and that is worth much more than an advertising campaign.

About Differencemakers Community Blog

The authors of this blog are all members of differencemakers community a participatory third place for people worldwide who are changing what needs to be changed and looking to increase the scale of their differencemaking.